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Karl Baker, left, of Philadelphia, and Steve Childs of Lancaster, England, relax in a room at Shaw's in Monson earlier this month.

Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

SHAW'S BOARDING HOUSE

SHAW'S BOARDINGHOUSE serves the Appalachian Trail hikers who pass through Monson on their way to the 100-Mile Wilderness from May 15 to Oct 15.

THE BOARDINGHOUSE opened in 1977 and was sold last year to a Monson local who grew up beside the trail and a former longtime summer resident.

LOCATED AT THE southern edge of the 100-Mile Wilderness, the town of Monson is just 3.5 miles from where the trail crosses Route 15, south of Moosehead Lake.

IT OFFERS A bunk room, single rooms, hot showers, a famous all-you-can-eat breakfast and shuttle services.

FOR MORE information, go to www.shawslodging.com or call 997-3597.

MONSON — Steve Childs came all the way from Lancaster, England, to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail this summer.

And as Childs made his way north toward the 100-Mile Wilderness in Maine, he heard southbound hikers talking about Shaw's, the boardinghouse in Monson famous for its home fries and hospitality.

"You get into a zone on the trail ... All you remember is the people. And you hear about Shaw's, and that the breakfast is all- you-can-eat," Childs said during a recent stay.

The Appalachian Trail runs across Route 15 in Monson, 3 1/2 miles north of its tiny downtown. Shaw's boardinghouse, made famous to non-hikers in Bill Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods," opened in 1977. It was run for 27 years by Pat and Keith Shaw, a Monson couple who built the lodge's reputation for warm welcomes.

Last year, when the Shaws put the house up for sale, two women planning their retirement bought it. And being from Monson, Dawn MacPherson-Allen and Susan Stevens knew the house's tradition of helping hikers.

Neither woman had experience running a lodge, but both had experience helping others.

"I was a schoolteacher for 37 years. Susan raised three boys. It's no different," said MacPherson-Allen.

MacPherson-Allen, 60, grew up in Monson and spent most of her life on Pleasant Street, next to Lake Hebron, watching hikers walk up and down the street, from town to Shaw's.

Stevens, 63, spent 38 years as a Monson summer resident, living on the other side of Lake Hebron with her late husband Robert, a Monson native.

The two women say running the boardinghouse during the hiking season - from May to October - is tiring, all-consuming, and a nonstop commitment. It also gives them a buzz.

"It is overwhelming sometimes. It is helping other people that is rewarding," said Stevens, who grew up in Vermont hiking sections of the Appalachian Trail, which was completed in 1937.

The reward is that everyone hiking the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail that stretches from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine knows about Shaw's welcoming ways.

"It's an icon of the trail," said Stan "Tortuga" Krajeski, 48, who maintains a section of the trail in Georgia.

He waited 10 years to hike it, and knew about Shaw's before he did.

"Everyone knows about Shaw's. It's known along the trail because of the hospitality given to hikers," Krajeski said.

BIG REPUTATION, SMALL TOWN

Downtown Monson - the tiny stretch of stores along Route 15 - lies at the start of the 100-Mile Wilderness, which is made up of mountain terrain, forests, lakes, and streams that must be crossed.

Shaw's is a two-minute walk up Pleasant Street from downtown.

MacPherson-Allen and Stevens know everyone at the General Store, where hikers restock their supplies; at the Lake Shore House, where music sessions on Friday nights allow hikers to join in; and at the Mobil station, where ravenous hikers feed their appetites with pizza and ice cream.

Everything a hiker could want is in this town, and it's all just a two-minute walk from Shaw's.

"You know, my high school was bigger than this town. My graduating class was half the size of it. There are 650 people in this town," said Alaina Copsey, 19, who was staying at Shaw's with a group from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.

Shaw's is a two-story farmhouse in a residential neighborhood. It can sleep 15, with half of those staying in a large bunk room filled with brightly colored twin beds.

The cost of lodging ranges from $32 for a single to $21.50 for the bunk room. The breakfast costs everyone $6.50.

A large common room - where both the television and laundry machines are located - spills into an enormous kitchen.

A small breakfast room sits off the kitchen, as does MacPherson-Allen's office, where hikers register.

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